In Rainbows

Today it's a very important day in (my) music history.

Today is the day that I will make my first purchase of music on-line.

In fact, today is the day that I will purchase any kind of music again after a very long time.

Today is the day that Radiohead are releasing their latest album. And it is only available in digital download (not entirely true, but anyway check the site for details...). This is their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, finally out after one year of recording, mixing and mastering.

Today is the day that Radiohead, being free from their six-album contract with EMI, are able to decide how to publish, distribute, promote, and profit from their new album. Prince did it as well by offering his latest album for free with the Daily Mail (then again I don't really care about him). George Michael has been trying for years for break free from Sony, and he is almost there trying to distribute music by himself.

But today is the first day that the listener will decide how much to pay for the music. Yes! The Radiohead album is for sale, on-line, and you dictate the price! No, really. You can choose to pay 1p if you want, or £5 (which is what I will pay), or more. When you add the digital download and are viewing the basket, the price is empty so you can enter the amount. You press the ? next to the price, and a new page appears which says It's up to you. You press the ? again, and it says, No really, it's up to you.

Today is the day that it finally makes sense to start paying again for content! I never felt guilty for not doing it before, and I am very happy to do it today. I have been waiting for this day for so long, without even knowing it.

Today is the day...